Railroad-crossing gate.



V. A. LILLQUIST. RAILROAD CROSSING GATE. APPLICATION man APR. 24. 1917.

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Specification of Letters Patent. Patgnttcgdl Jam, 22,19llfi.

Application filed April 24;, 1917. Serial No. 164,195.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,.V1cron A. LILLQUIST, a citizen of the United States,residing at Superior, in the county of Douglas and State of Wisconsin,have invented new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Crossing Gates,oi. which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to gates, and more especially to those which aremechanically operated by a passing train and automatically returned totheir housed position; and the object of the same is to produce a gatefor points where the highway crosses a railroad track or tracks, whichwill provide both abarrier and a signal against the approaching vehicleor pedestrian.

The invention consists of the gate-operating mechanism actuated byimpact of a cam on the bearing of the front axle beneath a locomotive orelectric car and the details are set forth in the followingspecification, reference being had to the drawings wherein Figure 1 is aside elevation of this structure at one side of a highwayicrossing (thelatter indicated by the letter C) showing the gate as raised in fulllines and lowered in dotted lines and diagrammatically indicating anapproaching wheel and its cam.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, carried throughonly onerail of the track and showing the gate as raised.

Fig. 3 is a cross section on about the same line, showing the gate asloweredv and illustrating how a platform may be built as an approach tothe rail, and between the rails and how a plate may be employed toprotect the gate from dirt. v

Fig. 4: is a perspective deta1l showing the engagement of the springwith the linger;

In conjunction with this invention it IS necessary to illustrate onlyone rail R and its Web W, and to diagrammatically show the tread T andthe flange F of a wheel and the bearing B for its axle, the bearinginthis case. being inside the flange. While I speak of the element B asa bearmg, it may be any thing carried by. and depending beneath the.axle inside the flange, but this is immaterial. Coming now to theinvention proper, the gate comprises upright straps 1 and 2, connectedby horizontal slats 3 and 4 pivoted at 1 their ends to said straps andtherefore al-.

ways maintained in parallelism, and one of said slats may carry a signas indicated at 5, and possibly an electric lamp as indicated at 6; thewiring for which is not necessary of illustration in this case. I mightaddthat the gate could carry an audible signal such as bell which issounded when the gate 1s raised, but these detailsalsoare not necessaryfor illustration. The straps 1 and 2 extend down past the ball of therail .alon gside its web W and are pivotally connected-therewith atpoints 11 and 12 on the inner or flange side of the rail, the strap 2being continued beyond its pivot in an arm 8 which moves beneath aspring 9 when the gate rises, so that the latter isthereby heldfrictionally in elevated position. At'other times the arm slipsfromcontact with the spring and the gate folds-down past the ball oftherail alongform may be built completelyup to the ball of the rail, buton the inner or fiangeside of the rail theplatform 14 is spacedtherefrom so as to leave a channel 15 within which the gate is housedwhen it is folded down, and this channel may be whollyor partly coveredby a plate 16 havingoneiedge I downtnrned and mounted on a beam 17 inthex lat'fform and its other edge projecting toward the rail but spaceda sufiicient distance therefrom, to permit the rise of the gate.This-plate prevents the possibility that a horse may get his hoof intothe channel for the wheel-fiange,- and :obyiously keeps much dirtout ofthe channel. 15 which might otherwise interfere with the gate structure.It is tobe understood that lam describing and illustrating herein onlythe gate'which stands adjacent one rail. and is operated bya train orengineapproaching from the right in Fig. 1, but there is to be a similargate on the other rail operated by a train approaching from the otherdirection,

or if there are two tracks this additional gate will be on theappropriate rail'lot the distance from the highway indicated by the vrodis of ample length so that its headed outer end stands at a considerabledistance from the crossing C and the gateperhaps a hundred or twohundred yards.

When now a train approaches from the right in Fig. 1, a cam 100 which ismounted beneath the bearingB inside the flange F of its front rightwheel, strikes the head 26 which is projected slightly above the rail Rwhen the gate is closed. The impact pushes the inclined end 24 obliquelydownward through the guide 25, and swings the rod on its several links.Movement of the link 22 raises its finger 27. Movement of the arm 8raises the strip 2, and this through the connecting slats 3 and 4 raisesthe other strip 1 so that the entire gate rises out of the channel 15'and stands directly across the roadway or crossing C, and thus anapproaching pedestrian or driver has .full notice that a train iscoming. The latter proceeds on its way and finally the cam 100 strikesthe finger 27 of the link 22. This rocks said link on its pivot with theresult that the rod 20 is moved in the opposite direction to fold thegate down into the channel 15 and to raise the oblique end 24 and setthe head 26 for impact by the cam on the next succeeding train. Thus anapproaching train first sets the just before reaching the gate, is.trips the same or folds it down into the channel 15, past the plate 16if the latter beemployed, andout of the way of the flange F of the wheelwhich runs along the inner edge of said plate and over the crossing G.Lest the impact should raise the gate too high, I

-mount the spring 9 on a pin 29 in the web W at such point that the arm8 strikes this pin when the strip 2 is vertical, and lest the folding ofthe gate'should carry it too low I provide another pin 30 against whichthis strip strikes when the gate is housed within the channel 15. Thesepins therefore constitute stops to limit the rising and descendgate, andthen,

ing movements of the gate. The platform structure protects the gate frominterference by malicious persons or from contact by the wheel of apassing vehicle or the hoof of a passing animal, but except at thecrossing C there is hardly necessity for protecting the rod and thelinks as all parts are of metal and lie close inside the rail so thatthe latter in efi'ect protects them. The outer end of the rod 24 ispreferably made flexible so that if the locomotive in backing shouldcause the cam 100 to strike this end, the latter will spring downwardand no harm will result.

What is claimed as new is: v

1. In a railroad crossing, the combination with upright strips adaptedto be pivoted at their lower ends to the web of the rail at the highwaycrossing, parallel slats pivotally connecting said strips andconstituting the gate body, an arm projecting rigidly from; the lowerend of one of said strips and deflected out of line therewith, and aspring for frictionally engaging and holding said arm when the gaterises; of a rod pivotally connected with the lower end of said arm andleading along the flange side of the rail in the direction of anapproaching train, links pivotally connecting this rod with therail-web, a gate opening finger rising rigidly from the link nearest thegate alongside the ball of the rail, and a contact head at the outer endof the rod, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a railroad crossing, the combination with strips adapted to .bepivoted at their lower ends to the web of the rail at the highwaycrossing, slats connecting said strips and constituting the gate body,an arm projecting rigidly from the lower end of one of said strips, anda spring for frictionally engaging and holding said arm when the gaterises; of a rod pivotally connected with said arm and extending alongthe flange side of said rail in the direction of an approaching train,its outer end being bent obliquely upward and provided with a head atits extremity adapted to be projected above the ball of the rail, aguide through which the oblique end is slidably mounted, and a gateopening finger pivoted to the rod and to the rail adjacent the gate andraised alongside said rail when the gate is raised, for the purpose setforth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

VICTOR A.'LILLQUIST.

